. I first came to Hollybush in 1998; I was a volunteer in the Huddersfield office as part of the task team and I was asked to come over to Hollybush to drive the minibus for the midweek team; I can’t remember where now. Just after this I got a job as the North Kirklees Environmental Projects Officer and I was based in the community, working in Huddersfield and then Batley; but the interview was at Hollybush in the front room. I used to come here sometimes for meetings.
I remember where LDP is now, Patrick ran a schools project; they sold lots of plants, particularly pond plants. There were things down the garden as well I remember; right at the bottom, you’d lift up a handle and there were creatures living underneath. I remember that from my first trip down the garden.
I’ve spent time here on and off over the years and I’ve been working for TCV again for ten years; I’ve been in and out, especially doing internal verifications for the diploma. I used to come and see the project officers who were teaching, observe the volunteers and look at their portfolios. My qualifications have always been in this area of interest; yes I’m very lucky.
I now oversee Green Gym and Time to Shine; Green Gym which is about doing physical activity with a purpose and we’re doing that around the city; it’s mostly horticulture based and as well as having allotments or spaces at some of the health and wellbeing hubs, we also work with discrete groups of people who may not want to mix with other people; some people may be anxious about joining groups on their own, but subsequently some have joined some of the main green gyms because they were interested.
Time to Shine is about older people who are in danger of becoming lonely and isolated and encouraging them to be involved in activities here and at associated projects. There has been some good feedback from people which is really nice.
Some groups are discrete because they want to stay together for a particular reason, for example an Asian women’s group for women with mental health concerns. The project links up with existing groups such as The Association of Blind Asians which has groups across the city and we provide activities for them over five or six weeks.
But we also like to bring in other projects like the practical team who have built raised beds and done some paving at Green Gym sites. Gemma has done willow weaving with different groups and some people have gone on to teach the skills they’ve learnt to others which is brilliant really. Gareth has taken whittling wood activities to green gyms.
Since I was first here, there are more activities and more people; it’s more colourful. There was only a couple of staff when I first came. John used to be in the front room upstairs and he had a Hollybush timeline on the wall; I was always fascinated by that, the way it went round the walls.
I remember we did a joint hedge laying with all the BTCV groups in West Yorkshire, volunteers and staff; John was County Manager then. We all met up to do this massive task which was really good fun. We got to meet everyone from the whole of the county.
The volunteers’ party when the marquee was in the car park, I remember that. And maybe it was the 21st birthday at Oakwell Hall near Batley; they had a big old barn where we had a ceilidh. There was a washing line and they got people to bring in BTCV T shirts to hang on the line and it was amazing; they regularly produced T shirts for different campaigns; there were absolutely loads of them, some in all kinds of states with big holes in them, very colourful and lovely.
People have come to Hollybush to get experience so they could get a job, learning new skills and maybe moving on to something bigger and better but still keeping the links here. I did meet somebody before I came back to work here again who said the best years of his life were here. People seem to know about us. It does a lot for people in terms of loneliness and social isolation, coming together and working alongside each other and having a common interest as well as the physical activity. A pride in doing something and doing a god job makes a huge difference to people. People have a sense of belonging because everybody is welcome and everyone is treated the same; everyone has a role in whatever group you’re in and has something to contribute.
People work well together and sometimes somebody coming in from the outside would be hard pressed to know the difference between staff and volunteers in certain situations. Volunteers, key volunteers and Volunteer Officers do so much and take on responsibility; everyone is treated well and everyone is valued
Written by Aine Welsh